We Haunt Shadows

The echoes that follow us
ride our shadows to stay at our side,
bearing down on us somehow
from the ground at our feet.  

We think we need them
in order to be ok,
so we believe, not understanding: 

They are always ok. 

They are always ok. 

They always were. 

Always will be.

We don’t understand
what they really need from us
is null;
rather, what is,
is what we need from them.

To bring them into the sunlight.

To dissolve them in warm comfort.

To watch them drift away
like petals on a summer breeze.

We could be so free of their weight
if we could just understand
that we are the tether.

We could run and jump and skip more easily,
freely,
if we could finally know
that we are the only cord that binds them.